Opposing banning Maccabi Tel Aviv: part of the pattern of Islamophobia
JVL Introduction
The Home Affairs Committee Report (HAC) report on the Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans ban was buried, apparently hardly read, as it came at a time of a political and mainstream media partisan, prejudiced and weak minded consensus that the ban was wrong, verging on antisemitic, and anyway subject to procedural errors which provided a useful diversion from the main issue that the decision to ban was correct and that opposition to that ban on Tel Aviv fans coming to Birmingham, was rooted in Islamophobia.
At the end of the article is additional information we have compiled, outlining some of the recent actions by these (and other Israeli football ‘fans’, for example in Amsterdam, Athens, Stuttgart and in Israel and an article about what this represents. Just as an example from that list was the chant by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam in autumn 2024:
“there are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left”, audible on footage of the Amsterdam riots and subsequently widely reported.
This issue can seem of little importance while there is slaughter in Iran and Lebanon and the spreading risks to neighbouring states, as well as the ongoing genocide in Gaza. But there is a connection between the dismissal of Muslim fears and the application of double standards to the war crimes of Israel (and the USA) compared with those of Iran and of its leaders.
JM
This article was originally published by Canary/Skwawkbox on Thu 5 Mar 2026. Read the original here.
JVL: parliamentary condemnation of Maccabi ban riddled with undeclared Israel cash
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I hope the Irish match against Israel will be closely monitored. Not sure how much Israel has influence on their politicians. Would be good to compare. Thank you for the research and useful evidence.
I have no interest in football and had never heard of Maccabi Tel Aviv until this blew up. When it did I thought I had better google them and then read their Wikipedia entry. It now seems that simply doing this left me better informed than the members of the Home Affairs Committee.
I am also puzzled by the decision of the Committee to make any comments at all on the decision of the Safety Advisory Group. Their recommendation was that elected councillors should be excluded from these groups to avoid ‘political’ decisions being made. On this logic one would think that MPs should also be excluded from any involvement.